Outcome-Based Procurement (OBP)

Overview

OBP is an innovative procurement approach. In the OBP process, agencies state their problem statements, desired capabilities, and performance results to be achieved without specifying the technologies or solutions.

Outcome-Based Procurement (OBP) is an ICT procurement process whereby government agencies can state their problem statements, desired capabilities, and key performance indicators (KPIs) without specifying the technologies or solutions. This allows vendors to provide creative solutions to government challenges, while government agencies can trial solutions provided by vendors through validation tests before deciding on the best solution for deployment at the pilot phases and later stages of a project.

Based on the OBP workflow shown in Fig 1, each succeeding stage is provided to vendors as an option if the agency shortlists their submission. This means vendors do not need to participate in separate tenders for each stage (RFP to deployment). Government agencies are also allowed to refine the requirements at each stage. This enablesgovernment agencies to exercise flexibility and adapt the requirements to best suit their needs.

Objective

The two main objectives of OPB are to:

• Shift government agencies away from prescriptive solutions to creative solutions that are focused on outcomes and objectives
• Encourage innovation and ride on the industry’s mindshare to co-create solutions for government challenges

Scope

OBP covers procurement of all ICT solutions if they meet the following criteria:

• No readily available off-the-shelf solution
• Require co-creation with the industry
• Open to creative solutions as opposed to a prescribed solution. If agencies are already aware of the best solution or have a fixed criterion, the traditional procurement approach will be more suitable

Target Audience and Adoption Criteria

OBP is applicable and open to all government agencies that are either,

• Looking to procure ICT solutions but are unable to find existing solutions in the market that can meet the agency’s needs, or
• Looking for new and innovative solutions from the industry

However, if agencies are already certain about the type of solutions that can best meet their ICT requirements, the traditional procurement approach of structuring contracts and sourcing for competitive bids through an open tender would be more suitable over OBP.

Contact Information

For more information on OBP, contact the team through this form

Last updated 03 June 2022

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